Armada Unicron: The Halloween Review

Today, I do something I've been putting off for a very long time. Armada Unicron was one of the first Transformers toys I purchased as an adult, having been away from the hobby for a prolonged period. What happened? Puberty, video games and anime, mainly. I got him at Woolworths for £25, for reasons of nostalgia, although I wouldn't consider myself a true collector until I went to Auto Assembly for the first time many years later. Yes, I am very old. Anyway, I got to reviewing toys, but I kept on putting off the Chaosbringer, until I decided, yes, THIS HALLOWEEN. So here we are, a review about the personification of evil in the Transformers brand. So strap yourself in, and find out why this toy commands £100 or so on eBay. First off, his mini-con buddy.

Dead End
Wow, talk about being overshadowed. As Unicron is an Armada release, and indeed their creator in the cartoon, he comes with a mini-con to facilitate gimmicks, despite the obvious scale issue this presents. Dead End has this dubious honour, and while he isn't exceptional, he does make for an interesting contrast with the big evil. He's a Mini-Me as much as a Mini-Con, having a moon for an altmode, with the suggestion of a maw on it, and unlike the big guy, is actually spherical. He also transforms very differently, resulting in a robot made out of sphere slices, with 12 points of articulation. The head is somewhat anonymous, although the horns do invoke his master. Both modes benefit from a very big gun, and the use of black to offset Unicron's brighter tones. There's also a unique interaction between the two, Dead End being able to form a turret for Unicron's planet mode via a specially indented, if loose, mini-con post, so the Unmaker can shoot what he eats. One complaint I would make is that he doesn't secure very well for moon form. He's easily overlooked, but he ain't bad.

Planet Mode
Setting the tone for this review, planet mode is an obvious 80's homage, but with a distinctly Armada spin. Many of the key design elements from the film are there, the ring, the tusked mouth, spikes, and the colours. This is contrasted by the use of transparent plastic for a majority of the surface, and the numerous mini-con posts. Its a reasonable facsimile of G1 Unicron(1), but right off the bat its got its own identity. And there's a lot going on here. I remember thinking when I got this, it must have been my first actual transformer in a decade or so, how intricate the detailing was. By modern standards, its fairly typical, just on a big scale, but back then I was used to stickers. Even the transparent segments are intricate and asymmetrical, if easily missed. Of course, this is not to say the presentation is flawless, and the problem stems from the mass and his outer ring. The backend exposes the robot mode hips, and is flattened out so it can rest on a surface, an important feature in a toy weighing 1.4 kilos, but its not the orientation you'd want for the mode. Its not possible to pose it charging something or nomming on the Death Star, unfortunately. Also, the extensive use of transparent plastic only highlights the flaws in the transformation, and even if they weren't, they don't conceal everything, and you can easily see the robot bits from certain angles. The Primus toy of four years later would not have these issues, but its something this toy is stuck with, making it a poor mode to display, unless you purchase a third party stand.

The absence of a stand, combined with the extensive use of translucent plastic, made photogrpahy a bit of trail, BTW. My apologies.

Play features are pleasant in this mode though, going beyond the obvious and present om-nom-nom action. There's two sets of triple missile launchers on either side of the mouth, which require mini-cons to unlock, Dead End's functionality, and a total mini-con powerlinx capacity of 27. This does create a scale issue as per Dead End, although arguably a worse one as the minicron at least looks like he should be there. Also, and I don't have sufficient mini-cons to test this, a full loadout can add 400 grams or so to his weight. That said, this Unicron was closely involved with them, with teams like the Air Defence Team and Space Mini-con Team having both acceptable altmodes and strong fictional connections. You can do a lot here.

Transformation And Build Quality
Compared to his tiny minion, Unicron cheats an awful lot. Its a really big ask to get a robot out of a sphere without it looking odd in some way, and the designers clearly prioritised the robot mode. As a result, Unicron is quite literally the biggest shellformer you've ever seen. The actually spherical bits of the planet mode are shell, which is completely removable. Actually changing between modes is however more involved than you might think, if only due to his considerable bulk. There is also an honestly clever use of his ring, which ends up forming wings. However, I do find the process a little annoying, there being a couple of pegs near the mouth which I can't get to dock for some reason. In terms of build quality, the toy is pleasingly robust, although not without areas for concern given the age of my example. The transparent plastic would be on that list, but its its used in fairly sensible manner throughout, and doesn't seem to have any warning signs. The rubbery plastic used for the spikes, horns and shoulders also okay. What was not a nice surprise though is that after taking down him for the purposes of this review(2), two of his ratchet joints had failed, the left knee and right hip. While not an insurmountable problem for posing, it is something I intend to take a screwdriver to. I also had some difficulty with the rotating mini-con posts, and the missile launchers seem to be on a hair trigger.

Robot Mode
And presenting the mode you brought this toy for. Having an undeniable presence, extensive play features, and better articulation than entire waves of Armada toys, Unicron demands your awe and terror. Visually, there's a similar remixing as the planet mode, but favouring the film this time. Its easier to list the deviations, with the head and chest area being the most significant differences which are not easily dismissed as compromises to reality. His head, with the best look of contempt I've seen on a robot, has a big M outlining the face, signifying the mini-con connection. The tusks from planet mode end up on the shoulders, rather than on his head, as you might have thought, but horns are on the head regardless. Transparent plastic is also extensively used for the chest, although thankfully not in a worrisome manner. Otherwise, its Flo Duery's art homaged via the lens of a mass market toy. So he looks like a Mecha-Satan, a Western Christian stereotype of a demon, then which is then filtered via Japanese toy sensibilities. Twice. There is no ambiguity whatsoever as to what this guy is. Even though he features orange and grey, colours not usually issued to the forces of evil, the imagery being used here is unmistakable. If its not the spikes, its the wings. If its not the wings, its those feet. If its not the feet, its the cruel hands. If its not the hands, its the face. And its all rendered like some horrible, alien, eldritch mechanism. This is not a nice man.

It is, of course, awesome.

There of course some minor complaints to be made with the overall presentation. His hands are hollowed out, with the right being entirely transparent plastic, and the backs of shoulders aren't painted when they clearly intended to be so. The planet segments are also a bit unsightly, but at least you have options on that front. The mini-con posts meanwhile end up being unobtrusive to the appearance, and neatly brings us to the play features, of which there are many. Taking it from the top, he has red flashing eyes, and the right hand lights up in the same manner as the eye, which is kinda random, but okay. He retains the triple-missiles from planet form, and technically all of the mini-con posts, although they end up on his back. He does also gain two shoulder mini-con posts set into rotary mountings, a really good idea other toys could have benefited from, and has several concealed areas when the little blighters can hide. His demonic sixpack opens, revealing a regrettably plain area for people to get in his belly, while opening sections in his shins look more like launching platforms which actually move. Mini-cons placed within these can actually stay there for the transformation, which is nice, and if you are so inclined, there's cavities in the forearms where the hands are stored, and two mini-con posts on the right wrist assembly. This gives the robot mode a fairly ridiculous mini-con capacity of 34, which again, I regret not having that many to properly confirm this number. The showstopper however is based around his chest, via an easily missed post on his back. This triggers possibly the most elaborate and impressive missile firing action ever to feature on a transformer. The chest grinds open with a high pitched noise which scares dogs(3), revealing new painted detail, and then firing a four-pronged missile larger than most mini-cons. If you have to have a firing missile in a transformer, you want it to be one like this. Not only is it an event, you'd have to try hard to loose the thing.

Now, a couple of paragraphs back, I made disparaging comment about the level of articulation in Armada toys. This most common criticism made of the toy line, as it favoured play features more than it did joints, with a few notable exceptions(4). Unicron is one of the exceptions, being able to move better than any contemporary toy, and holding up extremely well in comparison with modern giants like Metroplex and Devastator with a grand total of 48 heavy duty joints. Its extremely comprehensive considering the weight of the toy, the only weakness being the neck joint, which likes to lock in place while having no vertical movement. Each shoulder features three joints, all you need, and the shoulder armour is hinged for ease of motion. The elbows meanwhile are good for about 90 degrees, but are quickly forgotten in favour of the hands which have ten joints. Its not the most sophisticated hand design ever, but he can easily throw the horns and give you the finger. He can just about touch his hands too, although his massive pecs make this tricky. The lower body articulation is concerned with taking the weight, but kind of hard to find flaw with. He does have a waist swivel for example, something they could have left at home and nobody would have minded under the circumstances, but they went that extra step, and added hinged skirt armour. The hips and knees feature two big ratchets each, while his massive feet and ankles have a total of five, including such luxuries as articulated toes and ankle tilts. Unicron does not do elegant movement, he has no need of such things, finding a good pose is easy. Or, more accurately, an evil one.

Conclusion

While my example has started to suffer in the springs, Unicron's design is one that still holds up, and unless Hasbro's got a grand plan for him during Titans Return, is not going to be bettered any time soon. Its got a planet mode. Its massive. Its devilish. Its articulated. Its heavy. Its very 1986, but detailed as good as any modern toy. And it can handle more mini-cons that you own. Its true that the robot mode vastly outshines the planet mode, but let's be honest here, if its not inflatable, what fun is a sphere? And its also true that the engineering doesn't quite produce a sphere either, so I doubt you'll keep in him that mode. And yes, there is a retooled version with a more 1986 look, but you know, six of one, half dozen of the other. If you collect Transformers, this is something you need to put on your to-do list, because not only is he a great toy, its the unifying point between G1 and Armada.

And most importantly, he's awesome.

Footnotes

1. Which was of course slightly retooled and redecoed from this.
2. And all the dust in the world.
3. True story. My grampa's dog did not like it, and I wasn't firing it anywhere near her at the time.
4. Other exceptions include the Supercon version of Optimus Prime, and Hoist. Both are worth investigating.

A Concise Review of Generations Fall Of Cybertron Optimus Prime In 500 Words Or Less

Pricepoint/Vintage: Deluxe Class, 2012.

Modes: Robot and Cybertronian Truck.

Transformation Style: Simple Optimus style with dramatic head reveal.

Play Patterns: Robot and car, 5mm weapons.

Points Of Interest: Part of tie-in toys to the Fall Of Cybertron (FOC) video game. The altmode is meant to evoke a fist.

The Good
This is amongst the most surprisingly articulated deluxes the brand has ever produced, where both the transformation scheme is an asset, and they threw in some luxuries. There's eighteen joints, with notably free knees and elbows, and eight balljoints. The shoulders and hips each feature a balljoint, with a swivel directly below, and in a design quirk extremely rare in the brand, a balljointed waist. Play value meanwhile is simple but effective, that articulation allowing for full use of the gun, while having seven 5mm ports in robot mode, the most useful being on the forearms and lower legs. Both modes also look good, and the transformation has just enough going on to hold your attention.

The Bad
While not as badly effected as some, Prime does show evidence of the FOC line's reduced budget in that he's unusually small and simple for a deluxe. This is one of those toys that should have been a Voyager, and as such takes a few liberties with the design. Like those annoying bumper pieces on the forearms that don't lock in place, and a set of decorative knees above the actual knees. There's also an improperly applied Autobot badge on the right shoulder.

The Mediocre
While the robot shines, the vehicle is dull. Its a small toy made smaller, and while it does have six 5mm ports, stowing its own weapon looks odd.

The Alternatives
FOC Optimus suffers stiff competition from his immediate predecessor and successor. War For Cybertron Optimus is bigger and more involved, while FOC Ultra Magnus has a rather badass sword as a bonus accessory. The superior Japanese paintjob trope is also in effect, and there's simply no shortage of Primes. You might want to throw a rock, you'll hit one.

The Verdict
FOC Optimus Prime is a toy that was, and is, easily dismissed as another Prime, but to do so is a disservice to yourself. Its true it does basically nothing new, its small, and like a lot of its kind, there's a superior remould in the wings. That does not however diminish the many things it does right, and this toy has remained a persistent part of my collection while more popular toys did not. It's worth your time.

A Concise Review of Generations Jetfire In 500 Words Or Less

Pricepoint/Vintage: Leader, 2014.

Modes: Robot and Jet.

Transformation Style: New style faux-kibble jetformer

Play Patterns: Robot and vehicle, modular 5mm weaponry, firing missile.
Points Of Interest: Based on the VF-1 from Macross, Jetfire is part of a never-ending legal omnishambles.

The Good
This toy manages to reconcile the often wildly different depictions of the character, thanks mainly to a removable face mask and an effective mix of design elements. The jet mode is an almost sleek swingwing, with rolling landing gear, and an opening cockpit. The robot is buff and angular, with twenty joints, mainly of that quasi-ratchet type. His head is light-piped even with the mask on, which can stow on his rifle. Play value is also really nice in both modes, thanks to the modular set of weapons, which can be left on during transformation. Jetfire has seven 5mm ports on his body, variously usable, and another eight on his accessories. You can make some daft combination guns, or just raid the armoury for a good time.

The Bad
Jetfire is infamous for his gappy, carved out, appearance and obnoxious use of chrome. The chromed parts are however necessary to conceal some gaps, so you are stuck with them. Said chrome actually came off with an elastic band when I took him out of the box for the first time. When drafting this review, I was actually fearful of transformation due to the gaps, but its better than I remembered. Paint applications, such as around the chest badge, are missing.

The Mediocre
While the front landing gear folds up, the back set can't, although both have rolling wheels. His leg guns look odd in robot mode. His transformation also cheats with "faux kibble", and there is a messy undercarriage in jet mode with Visible Head Syndrome.

The Alternatives
Takara's version of this is chrome-free, but the main competition is the 2006 version, which is more robust, has better accessories, but shows its age. Jetfire is a popular name for jet repaints too, and this mould has been heavily retooled into Thundercracker and the seekers. Plus, there's any number of Macross/Robotech toys and collectables. If all you want is a heavily-armed Autobot with a curious heritage and loads of modular guns though, consider Roadbuster or Whirl from the same line.

The Verdict
Jetfire is my least favourite of the modern leader class, and shows the signs of being a timid first step. It does more or less all you'd want in a modern Jetfire, and trust me, that's a lot, but that worrying build quality? That chrome? Both very good reasons to reject the toy. This design could have been scaled down to a voyager and lost little. If you see this at a discount, its well-worth a go, but don't pay scalper prices, and modify your expectations.

My First Impressions Of Transformers Devastation

Well, I caved in and got the game, and I intend to do a more formal review later, but I thought I'd use my currently fluctuating Sunday slot to give my initial opinions.

Short answer: this game is probably awesome.

When playing the game I was immediately reminded of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Platinum Games' spin off from the Metal Gear franchise. It was intense. It was kicking my arse. But it was doing it fair and square. Given my fondness for Revengeance, I had high hopes for this game, and so far its living up to those hopes. I am not a gifted player when it comes to spectacle fighters, but there does seem to be nuance there, even if a lot of it has reportedly been copied from their back catalogue. It also makes very good use of transformation as part of the experience, probably the best game to do so, because you transform at the end of a combo and run people over.

This looks fricking amazing, by the way.

Presentation and fidelity to the original cartoon series, the game's main selling point before and/or after being made by Platinum, is also impressive. The game looks and sounds exactly like the cartoon. Only with a much higher framerate, 300% more action, 1000 times the amount of rock music, and at most, 1% of the suck. I have noticed a few glitches, and an energon cube changing colour for a cutscene, but its otherwise highly-refined and well-executed nostalgia. Its not purely G1 though, as evidenced by some altmodes being changed, such as Megatron being a tank, and there's big chunks of the plot that are drawing from other sources. Let's just say there's a name that will be said, and you will recognise it if you've kept up with Transformers media in last decade or so.

Longevity is not an issue I'm confident in talking about just yet. Platinum Games tend to encourage replays, but I can see how you could speed run this. I am also however pleasantly surprised by the weaponry and loot systems, which give the game a kind of Diablo/Torchlight/MMORPG vibe. There is a certain degree of repetition to things, and maybe there's gonna be a superior sequel to this if we are lucky.

All the above is of course subject to change, but if you see this game for £20, you could do a lot worse.

Caturday Night Lights: Should this be a regular thing?

Hi there folks, one thing I've noticed is that this blogs pageviews always nosedive on a Saturday. I can only assume people have more of a social life than me. So, I've been toying with the idea of doing a regular post, just something daft to fill the game in schedule. And in the grand tradition of the internet, lets make it a cat.

Source: Dmitry Emelushkin

Should I do this again? Please let me know in the comments.

A Concise Review of Energon Starscream In 500 Words Or Less

Pricepoint/Vintage: Combat Class, 2005.

Modes: Robot and Jet.

Transformation Style: G2 style rotating wing assembly.
Play Patterns: Robot and Jet. 5mm modular weapons. Energon weapons and chip. Mini-Cons. Firing missiles.
Points of Interest: Mistaken at launch for a retool of G2 Smokescreen. Is also an energon ghost.

The Good
Starscream is an inevitable feature of Energon top tens, being arguably the most competent, non-combining, Decepticon deluxe equivalent. The extensive play features that characterised the line are clearly here, but pares it with nineteen points of effective articulation and a visual treat. Both modes feature sculpted damage and asymmetric translucent plastic giving him an incomplete and ethereal look. He's a wraith with a big sword and gun, which combine into a bigger sword. These can stow on his wings, which also have "concealed" missile launchers, deployable in either form. The jet mode has foldable landing gear, a translucent cockpit, and storage for both weapons. If you ever wanted an undead robot jet with a sword bigger than he is, whom can partake in fly-by stabbings, and blow people up with missiles, this is your man.

The Bad
I find the arms to be a real irritation when transforming him, being a nuisance to position for jet mode, and not locking when you get there. My example was not entirely pristine when I got it, prompting some silver paint for the face, and has some loose/detachable elbows, but nothing major.

The Mediocre
For safety reasons, the "hidden" missiles extend an inch out of the back of wings. The knees also want to lock in position, the articulation being stiff in places. While not unusual or obnoxious, the underside of the jet mode could be cleaner.

The Alternative
Starscreams are extremely common at all pricepoints, with the most obvious alternatives being the Classics version, the 2014 Armada version. The G2 Smokescreen mould is another candidate, given the engineering similarities. This mould was also given G1 style redecos, and used for Botcon toys, all somewhat self-defeating given the sculpt.

The Verdict
My all-time favourite iteration of a character, this toy is an uncommon example of the designers completely nailing it at the beginning of a line, rather than the end. Play value is as good as any deluxe you care to name, articulation is great for the time, and he has a compelling appearance. There's nearly nothing to consider a weakness, only things which could have be done a little differently. You'd have to reject the entire concept in order to dislike this toy. If you only get one Energon Decepticon, and you aren't interested in the combiner teams, make it this guy.

Radical Regenerations: Animated Soundwave And Laserbeak

Soundwave is a character I think I wanted as a child, but never actually got. He's someone I've brought multiple toy of, and I keep meaning to get the Masterpiece version someday. I suppose its a mix of him being loyal, and having an army of minions that live in his chest. Today, I talk about the only version I've kept hold of: Animated Soundwave. Read on to find out why this guy is on my Shelf of Awesome, and how he differs from the G1 version.

Image from TFWiki, Copyright Hasbro.

The Context

Seemingly developed as a more child-oriented contrast to the theatrical film of the same year, Transformers: Animated was probably the last truly great cartoon the series. Or at least, the last one doing something significantly different. The art style was a radical departure from the norm, the series was episodic, the actual war was over, and it was not entirely serious. While initially dismissed as “kiddy”, the series soon won fans over with over-arching story-lines, legitimately dangerous Decepticons, increasingly dark plots, and an obvious love by creators for the brand. Characters varied between being homages, archetypes, and thorough reworkings. Soundwave was visually not as big a departure as he was fictionally. This Soundwave was not Megatron's trusted lieutenant, although he was definitely on Megatron's side. Soundwave was an attempt by Megatron to build himself a new body, Megs just being a head at the time, that went horribly right. Via the power of the Allspark Key, Soundwave made the jump from drone to full-on sentience, which Megatron easily convinced to start a robot revolution. Sounwave only appeared in three episodes of the series before it was tragically cancelled, but is well-remembered for reasons that will become apparent.

Soundwave
Let's ignore Laserbeak for now, I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone, and start with the overt difference between this and other Soundwaves, the alternate mode. Like G1 Megatron, Soundwave's altmode fluctuates as his first one was invalidated by time, a micro cassette player. Although Guardians of the Galaxy briefly made the technology cool again, back when this toy was made MP3 players had made it utterly obsolete and unknown to most actual kids. So, they made him into a car, but not just any car(1), a car with a boombox theme, while retaining the blue and metallic accents of the original toy. Its based off the Scion xB, a car not unknown for modification and extensive sound systems, so its a fairly sensible choice. The front end features cassette style buttons, the wheels are patterned after speakers, there's a gold decal of a power switch, door panels like tape spools, and its boxy shape evokes the angular nature of 80's stereos. One element which is new however is the use of teal lines, reminiscent of TRON. Ostentatious? Maybe. Definitely says sound though. Paint applications aren't ideal, my example being rough, and a balance bar on the back end being ignored by Hasbro. On the plus side, there's translucent, but trendily tinted windows, so they didn't cut that corner. Robot bits are essentially invisible, although the wheels are but loose on their mounts. In terms of play value, its fairly a unremarkable car, nothing actually wrong with anything, but the only thing of interest it does is having a mounting slot for Laserbeak, but we'll get back to him.

The transformation is a little unusual to me, but I'd be the first to admit cars aren't my favourite altmode. Maybe there's a similarity to Prime Rumble, in that the lower legs turn inside out, forming the front end. But otherwise, the style seems largely unique, a necessary consequence of rendering the Animated visual aesthetics into something that exists in plastic that changes modes. In this respect, Soundwave is fairly a unremarkable-to-solid example of the Animate toyline, the engineering being a success, although not a high-flyer like Prowl or Swoop. As a result, Soundwave's robot mode has some noteworthy gaps and exposed transformation gubbins in the chest and shin areas, but nothing obnoxious. That said, moving the head assembly needs finger nails. As for Laserbeak? He's got a two step transformation, but enough about him.

What's the robot mode actually like then? Its actually pretty good. The likeness to the animation is a good match, if lacking some gold and a classically purple badge. Unlike the car mode, is not as big a deviation from the G1, and you could be forgiven for thinking its another body for the same character, just done by a (very) different artist. The chest for example is extremely G1, with tape buttons, and translucent plastic with subtle sound bars sculpted in. It even opens. You could also be asking why this is a “Radical Regeneration”? Patience, grasshopper, all will become clear. This mode does inherit most of the car details, and is proportionally is a bit of gorilla, so that's different. He is however articulated like a boss, with twenty-two good joints, a startlingly high number for deluxe. The legs are good, with two balljoints, a hinged ankle, an ankle tilt, and a tight waist swivel. You can also make use of a transformation joint if that isn't enough, although friction is starting to go in the knees. His head is on a basic swivel, with an aborted light-piping gimmick, and a visor suspiciously like a pair of Kamina Glasses, but are actually a reference to the ABC Warriors(2). Remember the glasses though, they are another hint of my reasoning behind this review. The arms however are fantastic, with six joints, but THREE in each elbow. He can press his own buttons. This extremely welcome level of jointage is however marred by the lack of conventional fistholes, Soundwave having flat hands. Such things were fairly typical in Animated.

So he's got joints up the wazoo, but no capability for holding a weapon in a sensible way? How is this good? Well, now we have to stop ignoring the bird.

Laserbeak

The bird is for most intents and purposes, a big accessory, and not a brilliant one by himself. It doesn't help that his eyes aren't painted in the Hasbro release(3), and he's got two points of articulation, one of which results in his wing coming off. The animators didn't actually know the bird existed at first either, so he didn't debut in the cartoon until season 3. He can do the falconry pose though, there being some concealed slots on the outside of each forearm for Laserbeak to clip-on. And that's good. Its what you want in this pairing.

However, if you are actually looking at the pictures, you've figured out the main reason why I've put off talking about this guy. His altmode is an electric guitar, inspired by the Dean Razorback V. He's an electric guitar, which plugs into the 5mm screw-holes in Soundwave's forearms. Hmm. Guitar.

SOUNDWAVE FIGHTS WITH THE POWER OF ROCK!

Is this radical enough for you? See why this guy is today's subject. Soundwave, possibly the most robotic and strait-laced of the Decepticons, has been reworked into a practitioner of loud rebellious music. He is an evil giant robot that mind controls other robots, with an electric guitar. And presumably rocks out when he needs to chill. This is awesome. This is metal. Its probably one of the greatest concentrations of metal-awesome in the brand. Until that Knights of Unicron set came out, the only thing more obviously metal-awesome than this is Bludgeon, and he's a walking album cover. If this does not appeal to you, I don't know what will.

Conclusion

Let's not kid around, Soundwave and Laserbeak are great. Its true that time and cut corners take the shine off things. I wish the paint applications on mine were both more extensive and better implemented. And perhaps, maybe, another design draft wouldn't have gone amiss. The pair are however extremely competent at what they we made to do, broadly defined as “rocking out” and “looking badass”. Robots with electric guitars are thin on the ground anyway, but the designers didn't rest on that laurel too much. Both of Soundwave's modes are good. Laserbeak is exceptional as an accessory, if meh by himself. Together they pull off the seemingly impossible task of homaging the original Soundwave while being extremely distinct from him. So go get them.

Foot notes

1. Or a flipping satellite.
2. Dirt Boss is the only actual Gurren Lagann reference in Animated, Derrick J. Wyatt had not seen that anime until late in the series' run.
3. Takaratomy of course fixed this, and added metallic blue to the set, which is tempting....

Youtube Highlights: The Flocking Game Industry

Hi there, its time for another selection of youtube clips that have caught my interest in the last week. Today's theme, games going wrong. Also: swearing. Lots of swearing.


Vogelsap's Jeroen Van Hasselt, the guy behind The Flock, has given an extremely frank presentation on why that game failed. I feel sorry for him, it was an interesting idea. No audible swearing here.

In more indie games news, not all of them are nice. Jim Sterling, a man as foul-mouthed as he is right, as spoken once more about his ongoing battle with Digitial Homicide, a company politely described as shady, and probably due some sort of legal attention.

And on the subject of Indie games developers acting badly, we have Overkill Software and Starbreeze Studios, this time adding microtransaction to Payday 2, despite repeatedly promising they wouldn't. ReviewTechUSA summarises the issue below, with some swearing.

Apparently not wanting to be left out, EA has announced that their Star Wars: Battlefront game will feature a seasons pass of downloadable content comparable in cost to the game itself, plus microtransactions. I think you can't fail to make money on a game like this, and anything other than retail price is greed. The AngryJoeShow has this to say. And curse.

And, just to lighten your mood, to prove that not everything is wrong in the world, a bunch of youtube personalities are running a Blood Bowl 2 league. Not because they were sponsored, but because they love the game. Here is a recap video made by league organiser wowcrendor.
Again, some cursing.

I love me a bit of Blood Bowl :)

Foreshadowing....

A Concise Review of Robotmasters Rijie, A.K.A Mirage, In 500 Words Or Less

Pricepoint/Vintage: Basic, 2004

Modes: Robot and Penske PC-18 Indycar.

Transformation Style: Spring-loaded flipchanger.

Play Patterns: Robot and car, 3mm weaponry.

Points of interest: Logical repaint of Machine Wars Mirage, and Japanese trademark casualty. Has an additional weapon, believed to be from a short-lived Microman line.

The Good
Rijie is based on the most successful of the Machine Wars flipchangers, and thus is competent in most things. The vehicle mode is much convincing, with the automorph integrated into the rear wing, which has aged better than other examples in my collection. His robot mode is pretty good too, with 7 joints, light piped eyes, and has gained a new gun for this release. Its also true that the G1 colour scheme, especially the blue, really fits the mould. He's classy in both modes.

The Bad
Rijie's got some kibble issues in robot mode, with half the car existing as one big, unrefined, chunk. It actually affects the mobility of all four limbs, which is a shame, as he's got five balljoints. The hip joints had regrettably become very loose over time, which prompted corrective action from me. He also has a gun that splits in half for storage, but like other examples, only one half secures properly, and so the other can get lost.

The Mediocre
I am loathe to consider an extra gun a negative, but I have concerns, as its translucent green plastic with chrome on top. That could go badly wrong. It obviously doesn't store either.

The Alternatives
This mould was used 5 times, and the character of Mirage has been extensively supported over the years, either in homage or in actuality. There's the well-regarded Classics deluxe, which is probably the first choice, although the Combiner Wars version has its appeal. Race cars of this type are also fairly common. Direct competition in the same size bracket is a bit thin on the ground though.

The Verdict
A superior example of a repaint, this toy has all the merits of the original but adds value. I'm sure the colours would have been enough for some, but you have to love another gun. His only real downsides are inherited, mainly in the posability, but are forgiveable for a toy of his size and style. If you want a Mirage, or just a small F1 Car, Rijie is definitely an option worth looking into.

1000 Page Views!

On the 9th of August 2015, I posted the first article to this blog. The purpose was to reinvent the stalled blog I have elsewhere, as the host is closing down. Also, to give me some small creative outlet, to express myself in a manner I can't elsewhere. Today, we hit the 1000 pageviews milestone. Just now.

Thank you new readers, regular followers, bots, and people whom came here by accident.

My Opinions On The NYCC Transformers Reveals

A metric truck load of news came out of the New York Comic Convention, although the bits that interest me transform into robots. After a faintly disappointing set of reveals for Botcon 2015, the Hasbro and IDW panels had the fanbase collectively wet itself and fainted with excitement. Due to being poor and doing this as a hobby, I was unable to attend, but the collective buzz affects even me. So here is a selection of opinions on the new toys revealed, and a few other things, based on information culled from various Transformers news outlets. Buckle up.

The Titans Return Toys In General
So beyond being Headmasters with a cooler sounding name(1), TitanMaster seem to be designed along slightly different lines from Generations Brainstorm. There is still a balljoint, and an exposed face in robot form, but the connection is reportedly different. This is probably a good thing as Brainstorm really didn't work that well. The titanmasters will have little cockpits for them in the vehicle modes of bigger toys, and obviously are interchangeable, with some being sold separately from a “body”. There's also two minor gimmicks, larger toys being triple changers, if not especially convincing ones, and a “Cassette” gimmick, which we will first see in Combiner Wars wave 5, with Buzzsaw. These take also take the form of triplechangers, having a "data" mode, robot form, and slightly unconvincing vehicle mode.  With the hand painted prototypes seemingly being posable in manner of most Generations toys, we could be on to a winner here. And Fortress Maximus was teased again. We are also likely to see a lot of remoulds again, with gaps in their forearms.

The fiction side of this is however more of a concern to me, as there will be an IDW tie-in, and IDW has not done that well with such in the past. Furthermore, a lot of the characters we've had revealed so far are either A) Dead, B) Very Dead, C) not a 'master previously, and/or D) involved in the More Than Meets The Eye comic series which should be left alone to be awesome.

Blaster (Leader Class)
A case of gimmick rather than character dictating size, Blaster is a leader class to facilitate dudes like Rewind using his chest as a home. His titanmaster is called Twincast(2), and has an additional helmet piece like G1 Scorponok, but reminiscent of Blaster's own original toy.  He also has a dummy tape, which looks a bit like a DJ station in base mode and would therefore be awesome. One design flaw however not obvious from the CG renders is that the tape mechanism extends out of the back, a downer, but hopefully the only one present. Its basically a given at this point we will get a Soundwave out of this, due to Buzzsaw being in the same Legends format. Some people think this will also be made into Powermaster Prime due to the base mode, I doubt that. If not a new mould, I'd be looking at Ultra Magnus instead.

Galvatron (Voyager Class)
This guy had a very low bar to overcome. The 2008 vintage Galvatron is the rare toy I actively despise, and all this one had to be was mediocre. TR Galvy looks better than that, provisionally good, if somewhat messy around the arms and “Cybertronian” in altmodes. Like Blaster, he requires an additional bit for his titanmaster to complete the head, which is springloaded in the chest. Visually, he's very much IDW Galvatron, and his titanmaster is based off G1 Megatron, although called “Nucleon”. This makes him the biggest “HUH?!” in relation to the comic tie-in. In the comics for about a decade now, Galvatron is in no way Megatron, whom incidentally is trying to reform, at time of writing. Galvy has a murderous dislike of combiners too.

This pair are probably the only toys here not getting a retool of some kind to make a different character, but you never know.

Sentinal Prime (Voyager Class)

First opinion: looking very orange. Second opinion: Looking solid in 2 out of three modes. The land vehicle form is weak, but the shuttle and robot pass muster. He just doesn't look that exciting just now. What he does look like is an Astrotrain in waiting. Is also dead in the comics for at least 4 million or so years.

Hardhead (Deluxe Class)

Probably the lest immediately interesting Titans toy to me, as he's a G1 original whom doesn't seem to be doing anything unusual. The biggest shot is that he's got the faceplate fictional depictions ignore. While quite a hollow fellow, this may end up being pretty decent though, given his visual merits and apparent posability. Also a member of the IDW “is very dead” club.

Skullsmasher (Deluxe)

Ah, now an actual, pre-existing Decepticon headmaster. Also very alive in the comics, and is a stand up comedian. He just gained a slightly better name. CG renders and photography seem to indict a less gappy and reasonably posable toy, although the croc mode would seem to have limited articulation. The mouth opens though.

Rewind (Legends Class)
Please, please, please, PLEASE make a Chromedome to keep him company. Its not right that they are apart. Hell, do them as a boxset.  The tank mode is amusing

Stripes (Legends Class)
Surprisingly, this isn't a new guy whom presumably exists because RID has the Steeljaw name just now. Stripes is just extremely obscure. He's probably gonna be a bit of an Alpha Bravo though. You know, unpopular with GEEWUN crowd, and then retooled into someone famous. Like Ravage.

The Individual Titanmasters

These are apparently going to sell for $5 plus a little vehicle, and if so, would the first time I've ever taken an active interest that price bracket. What we have here are 4 of the 1988 headmasters, A.K.A the Headmaster Juniors, without bodies, but with little vehicles which they can combine with. This is actually a brilliant idea, and I am in full support of it. Shame one of them is dead, and three are trademark victims. Crash-Bash looks to be the pick of the litter, see the images, with Loudmouth looking a meh, but not without appeal.

The Combiner Wars Cartoon

There's no video yet, so nothing to say. The talent behind it is however promising, and they seem to be making the right noises.

The Few Robots In Disguise Releases

Finally, some actual Decepticons in a sensible size class. I'd probably buy Thunderhoof, which would raise my lifetime RID purchases to 1.

And finally, All Hail Optimus

So, yeah. As part of the run up to Titans Return, Optimus Prime is going to annex Earth into the Cybertronian Council of Worlds, to protect us against an invasion. Whether we want it or not. And he's going full space pope to do it. My initial thoughts were to make a joke about welcoming our robot overlords, but then I got a little pessimistic. They seem to be deliberately invoking the memory of All Hail Megatron, an era of the IDW comics not well-liked at the time, or well-remembered now. The idea of Optimus taking control for our own good also has some worrying implications for this future character development, not that I've necessarily found him interesting as a character in the past. This is probably just a publicity stunt.

Mind you, the last publicity stunt they did gave us co-Captain Megatron, and that seems to be working very well. I'll try optimism.

Sources Used

TFW2005/ToyArk 

Tformers

Seibertron

TFWiki

Copyrights

Hasbro for the CG renders, IDW for the comic images, the respective websites for photography and video.

Foot Notes

1. And the implication that other 'master types might appear......
2. I see what you did there.